NRA Splits With Open Carry Texas Amid Chipotle Beef

Stephanie McDonald and James Franklin buy coffee at the Ground Floor on Wall Street while participating in an open carry demonstration Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013.

Associated Press

The National Rifle Association has another fight on its hands – and this time it is calling out a fellow gun-rights group for being too extreme.

The NRA on Friday posted a 1,400-word unsigned column urging a group called Open Carry Texas to lay off its publicity stunts during which owners of large rifles tote them near and inside stores and restaurants. The nation’s largest gun-rights organization called the carrying of large rifles in public spaces “downright weird” and said the Texas group puts all gun owners’ rights at risk with their actions.

Now we love AR-15s and AKs as much as anybody, and we know that these sorts of semiautomatic carbines are among the most popular, fastest selling firearms in America today. Texas, independent-minded and liberty-loving place that it is, doesn’t ban the carrying of loaded long guns in public, nor does it require a permit for this activity. Yet some so-called firearm advocates seem determined to change this.

Recently, demonstrators have been showing up in various public places, including coffee shops and fast food restaurants, openly toting a variety of tactical long guns. Unlicensed open carry of handguns is legal in about half the U.S. states, and it is relatively common and uncontroversial in some places.

Yet while unlicensed open carry of long guns is also typically legal in most places, it is a rare sight to see someone sidle up next to you in line for lunch with a 7.62 rifle slung across his chest, much less a whole gaggle of folks descending on the same public venue with similar arms.

Let’s not mince words, not only is it rare, it’s downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself. To those who are not acquainted with the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one’s cause, it can be downright scary. It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates.

The NRA’s statement doesn’t mention the Texas group by name, but Open Carry Texas has become the target of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s gun control groups, which have used its images as part of a successful campaign to pressure chains like Starbucks and Chiptole to ban or discourage the carrying of guns in their stores. Chipotle last month asked customers not to bring guns into stories, following a guns-rights demonstration at one of its stores near Dallas.

“Using guns merely to draw attention to yourself in public not only defies common sense, it shows a lack of consideration and manners,” the NRA wrote. “That’s not the Texas way. And that’s certainly not the NRA way.”

Open Carry Texas on Monday slammed the NRA, saying the NRA devotes “lip service” to the pro-gun cause without following through.

“The NRA has refused to learn for themselves how Open Carry Texas conducts itself other than what the liberal media and Bloomberg funded gun control extremists have falsely portrayed,” Open Carry Texas posted to its Facebook page. “The more the NRA continues to divide its members by attacking some aspects of gun rights instead of supporting all gun rights, the more support it will lose.”

The NRA’s squabble with the Texas open carry group comes after the NRA has shown itself in recent months willing to negotiate with its sworn nemesis, Mr. Bloomberg’s gun control groups, and didn’t oppose legislation in Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Washington state that prevents some people with domestic violence convictions from legally buying guns.

The NRA’s plea to cool it with the large guns comes after Mr. Bloomberg group’s campaigns served to bait some the open carry groups into showing up en masse with rifles strapped to their backs – legal but not necessarily great for business.

“It was really noteworthy in it’s the first time they’ve come out and said we’re not sure you should carry guns everywhere,” said Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, Bloomberg’s grass-roots gun control group.

NRA officials didn’t respond to requests for comment about its commentary. But Larry Pratt, the executive director of Gun Owners of America, a smaller gun-rights group that tends to be less flexible than the NRA, said toting large weapons into public spaces isn’t helpful to the cause.

“We’re trying to educate the public and I think using things that will be winsome is the best way to go about it,” Mr. Pratt said. “I see open carry as a positive thing and I think if people are interested in educating the public they ought to consider what’s the most effective way to educate the public.”

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